Mrs Conway insisted that Mr Trump’s praise for Mr Comey’s handling of Hillary Clinton’s email saga as a candidate had nothing to do with his subsequent firing of Mr Comey for that exact handling of the email saga.

“As a candidate, Trump praised James Comey, he talked about this on the campaign all the time,” said Cooper.

“All of a sudden, the White House is concerned about James Comey’s handling of Hillary Clinton’s emails?” Why now are you concerned about the Hillary Clinton email investigation when as a candidate, Trump was praising it from the campaign trail?”